Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 34, no. 4 (January 2002), p. 1

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. J. C. STEWART and H. J. D. NO. 1 were specially painted up for the cameras. Their hulls remained green and the lower part of the main cabin of each stayed black, but the rest of the cabins were painted white and the trim b e ­ came black. The STEWART's smokestack was painted white with a narrow black smokeband at the top, while H. J . D. NO. 1 had a very narrow white band above the black band on her funnel. One wonders whether the small difference in stack colours was planned so that film crews could tell the boats apart. The rather unimaginative colours chosen for the tugs undoubtedly were picked for the maximum visibility on black-and-white television. The STEWART, which at the time was commanded by Capt. Jim Stapleton while his brother, Harry Stapleton, was chief engineer, was the only tug on which on-board filming normally was done; the H. J. D. NO. 1 was (we believe) only used for shots where an exterior view was required, such as when both tugs needed to be seen at once. The STEWART usually carried the name NARCISSUS, while H . J. D. NO. 1 played the SALAMANDER, but the nameboards moved back and forth between the tugs as necessary. In her press interview, Minerva Urecal recalled: "We had signs for the 'Narcissus' and the 'Salamander' and it seemed like every time they changed camera angles they'd change the signs on the tug" . Much of the filming in the pilothouse of the STEWART was done while the tug was running, and the STEWART could manage a pretty fair turn of speed. Walter Sande apparently was capable of keeping a course while wheeling the tug, but Ms Urecal was not, and Capt. Stapleton often had to lie down on the deck, out of view of the cameras, to assist and keep the wheel under control. Most of the engineroom shooting was done whilst the tug was at the dock, but the real chief still had to remain aware of the state of his m a ­ chinery whilst dodging the cameras at the same time. Your Editor often saw the tugs coming and going "in costume", but only r e ­ calls filming being done during the summer of 1957, and particularly during the month of July that year, but if at least 39 episodes of the show were made, then the filming must have gone on for quite a while. When it was all done, the two tugs went back into regular service, restored to their normal Toronto Towing and Salvage colours. But the wooden hull of H. J. D. NO. 1 was just about played out and so she did not last much longer. Her last year of service was 1960, following which she was dismantled at the drydock yard and, in 1961, her hull was scuttled in deep water in Lake Ontario. The STEWART and the DIXON carried on, assisted from the late 1950s by the 75-foot, 1909-built, steam-powered SOGENADA (C. 126766), acquired by Dixon from the federal Department of Public Works. Much of the Dixon tugs' work involved the hauling of dump scows out the Eastern Gap in the summer, and in the winter, the moving about the harbour of freighters laid up with grain storage cargoes (the numbers of the latter being significant when three major grain elevators were operating at Toronto). However, the winter ferry service dried up for the Dixon tugs after the commencement of what was to be a 40-year battle by the Metropolitan Toronto government to clear the islands for park-only use, and particularly after the demolition of island homes and businesses began in earnest in 1959. Thereafter, the number of winter island residents dropped substantially, and the "Metro Marine" tugs NED HANLAN and G. R. GEARY could handle the winter service without the assistance of char­ tered Dixon tugs. (All tug ferry service came to an end with the commission­ ing of the double-ended carferry ONGIARA by the Metropolitan Toronto Parks Department in January of 1 9 6 4 . ) There were not many changes to the Toronto Towing and Salvage tugs in these years. J. C. STEWART seemed to be sporting a different whistle every time we saw her, the best being a big triple-chime of famous harbour provenance. Her big binnacle, which previously had been carried on the open bridge deck in front of the pilothouse, was relocated to the monkey's island to make way for a steel companionway up the front of the main cabin. She also was fitted with radar (at last), the scanner being carried atop a rather tall tower.

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